Brett Pino

Tyler Barnum
English 2010
February 10, 2015
The Healing Caress of Nature
Have you ever experienced a particular scene in this natural world take you upon itself
and give you unconditional love or serenity? In the city, or populated environment, a persons
entire mentality converts itself. Finding some peace becomes more challenging. As a whole we
all rely on quick fixes, technology, money, materialism, and social concerns that in the higher
state of mind cannot exist due to the irrelevance in importance of life. Some find this
comfortable; however, the individual who lives for the crowd is another story for another day.
For the unhappy pieces that dont fit, they fall away from the puzzle and when they try to glue
themselves to the rest to conform they feel unaccompanied.
To acquire harmony local escape places are created. Whether that be your computer, a
park, or a drive through the more quiet part of town as an awkward piece you feel a little better
but still maintain suffocation. The local coffee shop, I escaped. I get a better atmosphere, hear the
calm music, taste and smell the strong coffee beans. Nevertheless, the discussions of gossip and
distractions of bad smelling cigarettes taints the purity in the senses and awareness of the
positive. Were all here to conform and mold into one diverse society, but what about the people
who want true freedom and contentment away from the big puzzle?

The Great Escape, a song written by Boys Like Girls is about high school graduation.
However, this is also a representation of my inner words that are soundlessly screamed every
day, and I can release when it comes on. My great escape is a sweet and healing dream I have
occasionally. This view from a porch, smelling of wood on the front of my small future cabin. A
walk along the long grass, the birds and bees, the rain and clouds. The patch in between a grove
of trees, long beams of light slightly bend through the branches. I lay and fall in the rhythmic
waves of the wind in the branches and the sound of the water separating from the rocks in a
nearby stream. My visualization isnt as intense as the real thing but I feel caressed by natures
sweet love and become capable of anything.
Nature personally cleanses my emotional and mental state of being, some have suggested
this is true and that nature can heal more than just that. In the blog Get Out There Natures
Healing Power, by Frank Lipman, he references the book, Earthing: Most Important Heatlh
Discovery. The book provides information of scientific studies on Earths electrical signals that
uphold our complex physiology; although, we continue to divide ourselves and add layers in
between us and Mother Nature. I have never experienced healing physically from nature, but
there are hundreds of miracle stories out there. For example, in the comment section of this blog,
Tandy Elisala says I've relied on all aspects of nature to help heal this body from cancer three
times. I am a huge believer in the power of nature to help heal! I could only imagine how
wonderfully refreshing curing the cancer from your very body by being exposed to nature
without relying on doctors and hospitals alone.
Elisala isnt the only one to have faith in this, in fact, Bernadine Cimprich, a secondary
instructor emerita through the University of Michigan, School of Nursing, collaborates in
multiple experiments on breast cancer patients using this theory. In the journal article, An

environmental Intervention to Restore Attention in Women with Newly Diagnosed Breast

Cancer, she has collected supporting data. A group, one not being exposed to nature during
treatment and after surgery in comparison to her interest group, those who were exposed to 120
minutes of nature daily. The results suggested that nature-exposed patients had better health
outcomes. These miracle stories and studies give me faith I can heal from nature, but where are
the studies about personal preferences? How would we ever know if its all scenery or a special
type that can heal us due to our individuality?
There are many sources to help get one started on the right path out there. To focus on
more nature-based meditations, to connect to a special kind of place, I would get out into nature.
What better way to connect to nature than to be in it? Try different type of scenery, go on a hike
find a rock to sit on, go to the beach lay by the shore or find a field and sit in the center. Now be
seated comfortably and feel the ground beneath you, feel biologically and internally how close
you and the world are. We are stuck to it, the way gravity has made it. We exist not among but a
piece of all living things around us; after all, according to science, we share 50% of DNA with a
banana, -Pietras, Emma. One of the biggest lessons youll learn through this is gathering the
ability to hear. Not just sounds, but the vibration of everything. You will hear, see, feel, taste and
smell all at once and increase the awareness. Awareness that you will have never thought
conceivable before.
Ive always felt something about the forest: its deep, sometimes dark, green and lush,
filled with mysterious life of animals, bugs and plants. Overall, it awakens the senses, my spirit
and replenishes the life inside me. Im a nemophilist, which is defined from the Websters
dictionary as, One who is fond of forests or forest scenery; a haunter of the woods. If you have
a special preference, you just know it, like you were born from it and continue to share the life of

it; however, if theres a lack to understand this natural connection, its a characteristic that not
everybody acquires. If you wish to find it, meditation could work for you.
Mediation is the practice of mindfulness and awareness. Most people will have a unique
or diverse experience with the exercise. My experience has taken me far psychologically and
emotionally. To sum up the process: breathe, open, clear and connect. Finding a meditation that
works for certain individuals takes time and devotion. It doesnt always work the first time you
try and usually theres a force coming from you to make it work. Mediation cant be forced, I had
to teach myself slowly that its a waiting game. Once I had the breathing, clarity and openness
down it evolves into a charmed journey, if you understand the state of mind that develops you
realize youve always been connected.
The world has become such an unpleasant place to be. Often, I find my mind unfocused
and wondering. The disconnection in this man-made space is incompatible for me at times. The
place I want to be is attainable but time and money are a necessity to get there and containing
this negative view of the growing world will provide an increase in immobility. When you
disagree with the way things work, they disagree and work against you; therefore, you must find
a happy medium to help begin mobility. Its an attitude adjustment that starts with you.
I have wished a bird would fly away,
and not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the door
when it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong
in wanting to silence any song.
- Robert Frost

Works Cited
Cimprich, Bernadine. "National Center for Biotechnology Information." An Environmental
Intervention to Restore Attention in Women with Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer. (2003):
n. pag. Pubmed. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 26 Aug. 2003. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
Johnson, Martin, Sam Hollander, et al. "The Great Escape Lyrics." BOYS LIKE GIRLS LYRICS.
N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
Lipman, Frank. "Get Out There: Nature's Healing Power." Review. Web log post. Dr. Frank
Lipman. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
"Nemophilist Definition." Webster Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
Ober, Clintion, Stephen Sinatra, and Martin Zucker. "Earthing: The Most Important Health
Discovery Ever?" Barnes & Noble. Basic Health Publications, Incorporated, n.d. Web. 10
Feb. 2015.
Pietras, Emma. "Humans Share 50% DNA with Bananas: The Fascinating Facts about the
Scientific World around Us." Mirror. N.p., 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
"Robert Frost Short Poems." Robert Frost Short Poe